


Something New

by Immaryrawr12



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Summer Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-07-04 07:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15836679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immaryrawr12/pseuds/Immaryrawr12
Summary: Stand-alone sequel to mini multi-fic, "Sandcastles."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to backtothestart02 for beta'ing this fic. <3

Barry was nervous. Really, nervous was an understatement. He actually felt like he might throw up. He had a date with Iris West in less than an hour, and he was nowhere near ready. They had been texting constantly, non-stop since that night on the beach. But He had been a different person there with her that night, more confident. He had even asked for her number. Now, back in the city, he didn’t feel the same confidence. He wasn’t even brave enough to ask her out on a date. It wasn’t until Iris mentioned that he promised her a date that he actually plucked up the courage to set up a date and time.

He walked back to his room from the bathroom for what seemed like the millionth time in just one hour.

“Okay, how about this?” he asked, showing off his outfit to his friends.

Cisco, lying on the bed with a lollipop in his mouth, rolled his eyes. “You’re hopeless,” he said, looking over to Caitlin. “He’s hopeless.”

“You’re not helping,” Barry said, exasperated.

“Here, Barry, let me help you,” Caitlin said.

He didn’t look bad, honestly. He had quite the nerd look going on, but Caitlin liked it. It was who Barry was, and if Iris didn’t like it then she wasn’t the one for Barry. Still, Caitlin fixed his clothes—untucking his button down from his pants and unbuttoning the top button to show his t-shirt a little. He ran his fingers through his hair, nervous as Caitlin patted him on the shoulder.

“You look fine, and Iris is going to love you, just be yourself!” Caitlin smiled cheerfully as Barry’s phone dinged.

It was a text from Iris: running a little late, meet you there!

Barry let out a sigh. He was relieved honestly. Due to his innate tardiness, he had forgotten to get Iris some flowers. And he knew she probably wouldn’t care one way or the other, but Barry really wanted to impress her. He had just enough time to get the flowers and make it to the meet-up spot with about five minutes to spare.

He thanked Caitlin profusely and told his friends goodbye as he rushed out of the door. This was it.  
*****

Iris was cursing herself. The one day she needed to get off of work early, she slept in, making her almost an hour late for work. Rushing through her morning routine and skipping her coffee, she managed to make it to work with enough time to catch the end of her mandatory meeting.

Her boss wasn’t happy when she shuffled in during the tail end of the meeting, so to appease him she was trying to finish up her assignments for the day. With little to no luck, she sent a quick text to Barry, letting him know that she would be late.

“Hey, you’re not going to get anything else done, so you might as well just go,” Linda said, sitting down on Iris’ desk. “You have a date to go on, remember? You better go get ready.”

With a heavy sigh and one more frustrated glance at her computer, Iris decided that Linda was right. She wasn’t going to get any more words written. Her mind was preoccupied. All she could think about was her date with Barry.

She had been truly enjoying talking to him, but she was so ready to see him. She hadn’t seen him since that night at the beach. Life and work had been getting the way. Plus, she hated to admit it, but she didn’t even know if he liked her. He hadn’t said anything about a date. It was Iris who pushed down her insecurities and took a chance. She tried to be coy about it. They were on the phone when she asked. There was lag in the conversation, natural, not awkward. She knew that if she didn’t ask, she would die from the anxiety of not knowing.

So, she asked. Straightforward, to the point, with just a hint of teasing in her voice.

“So, are you ever going to ask me out on that date I was promised?”

He stammered, “Y-Yeah, yeah of course.”

“Well?” she asked, anxiously waiting for him to just ask her.

“How does this Friday sound?” he asked. “There’s a new Japanese restaurant downtown that I’ve been wanting to try out.”

Iris’ heart squeezed. She loved Japanese food. “Yeah, Friday sounds good.”

“I’ll pick you up at 7,” he said more confident than he had sounded just a mere minute ago.

“Okay,” Iris said softly, sheepishly excited for Friday night. Except now, she was running late. That’s what she gets for wanting to be an overachiever and actually finish some assignments at work instead of working on them over the weekend at home. She pushed herself out of her desk chair and grabbed her bag, throwing her notes in there. After saying a quick goodbye to Linda, she was out the door, rushing home to prepare for her date with Barry Allen.

*****

Barry got there first. Checking his watch, he stood with a bouquet of tulips in front of the restaurant. He didn’t have to stand there long though before he saw Iris, looking incredible in a blue summer dress, rushing towards him, a smile on her face.  
“Hi,” she said breathlessly when she reached him.

“Hi, you look amazing,” he said, handing her the flowers.

“Oh, tulips,” she said, smiling. “These are beautiful, Barry.”

“So are you,” he said, immediately mentally kicking himself for being so cheesy.

But the smile on Iris’ face told him that he was doing okay, and he was happy about that.

“Shall we go in?” he asked, and Iris nodded linking her arm through his.


	2. Ch. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> special thanks to backtothestart02 for beta'ing this chapter.

The restaurant was cooler than Iris had expected. She usually kept a small sweater with her wherever she went, but between rushing to get ready and being excited about this date with Barry, she must’ve left her sweater at her apartment. She tried not to think about how cold she was and shifted her attention on her handsome date. He was being a complete gentleman. He held the door for her as they walked in, held her chair for her as she sat down, and was completely well-mannered to the waiter. Iris liked that about him. There was something about his kindness and gentleness that made her feel warm on the inside. 

But it didn’t stop the cold air hitting her skin, making her shiver a little and rub her arms trying to make the goose bumps go away. 

“Are you cold?” Barry asked. 

“A little, but I’ll be fin-“she said, but was cut off by Barry.

“Here, take my jacket,” he said shrugging out of his jacket. He was glad he brought it. He almost didn’t because they were still in the middle of the summer, but at the last minute, he grabbed it. 

He handed it to Iris.

“Thanks, Barry,” Iris said.

“No problem,” he said. There was brief silence before he tried to speak again.

“So, how was your day?” he asked at the same time Iris asked him the same question.

Barry laughed, ducking his head to cover his embarrassment. “You first.” He gave her a small smile. 

“My day was okay…” She smiled. “Mostly just work.”

“Yeah, same… except my roommate built this cat-feeder, even though we don’t have a cat… and it spewed cat food all over our kitchen, so we spent most of the afternoon cleaning that up and trying to work out the kinks.” Barry playfully rolled his eyes, and Iris smiled.

She remembered talking about Barry’s roommate. Late one night, when she was walking home from work, she had called Barry. It’s not that she was scared to walk home alone, but she wanted to talk to him. Barry had sounded so stressed when he answered the phone. As it turned out, his roommate, Cisco?, had set the fire alarm off, and they had spent the entire night trying to silence it. Barry was sleep deprived and took that time to both rant and dote on his roommate/best friend.

“That reminds me of that time Linda brought a puppy home and forgot to buy a kennel. I was pretty strict about keeping the dog in her room, but when I woke up the next morning, the dog had torn up just about everything in the apartment,” Iris was saying.

“Oh, no.” Barry covered his mouth in shock. 

“Yeah, she apparently forgot to close her door, so he had the whole night to roam around the apartment.” 

******

Barry couldn’t keep the smile off of his face as he talked to Iris. They had finished their food half -an- hour ago, but neither of them wanted to move. It wasn’t until the lights started to go off in the restaurant that Barry noticed that the restaurant was about to close. He quickly asked for the check and paid for dinner. 

When they were outside, Iris slipped off his jacket and handed it back to him. 

“Thanks again for the jacket… and for dinner.” She smiled. 

“No problem.” Barry’s heart squeezed. “Can I walk you home?” he asked shyly, not wanting to say goodbye just yet.

“I would love that,” Iris said, looking up at him. 

Barry smiled as she took his hand in hers and followed her as she led the way. 

Barry hadn’t held her hand since that evening at the beach, and as much as he dreamed of this moment, nothing could compare to the real thing. The butterflies flying around his stomach were in a frenzy, and he just knew his hand was sweaty, but Iris didn’t seem to care, and Barry wasn’t going to let go. 

The walk to Iris’ apartment was over way too soon. Barry couldn’t get enough of talking to her. There was something about her that made Barry feel like he’d known her his whole life. Despite that though, they both grew quiet when they reached her apartment. Iris suddenly felt very shy. 

“Thank you for tonight,” she said, smiling, “and for walking me home.”

“No problem,” Barry said, taking in a deep breath. “I would love to see you again, Iris.”

Iris beamed up at him, her heart pounding in her chest. “Yeah? I would love that too.”

“How about tomorrow?” Barry asked. “Cisco is throwing a small get together at our place, and I would really love for you to come.”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll be there,” Iris said. 

“Great. And bring Linda along. The more the merrier.” Barry smiled.

Iris nodded. “I will.” 

Silence fell over them again, and Barry knew he would have to leave eventually, though he didn’t want to. 

“It’s getting late.” Iris laughed nervously, breaking the silence.

Barry nodded. “Yeah, you should go inside.”

“Yeah,” she said.

“I had a really good time tonight, Iris,” Barry said.

“Me too,” she said, her eyes meeting his. 

She licked her lips, and Barry took another deep breath. Everything in him was telling him to kiss her, and he knew that if he didn’t do it soon, he never would. It was now or never. 

With his heart pounding against his chest, he leaned in. Iris met him halfway, her lips brushing against his for a second before she pulled away. Before Barry could react, she kissed him again. In that moment, nothing else mattered. Barry swore they were the only two people in the world. He didn’t know how long they stayed there, his hands cupping her face, their lips moving against each other hungrily like this was only kiss they would ever have. 

Iris was the one to pull away, breathing heavily as she looked Barry in the eye. She all but melted under his intense gaze. Feeling dazed, she bit her lip and cast her eyes downward. Barry couldn’t help but smile as he watched her blush and fidget. He took her hand in his one more time and gave it a little squeeze. She looked at him, and he smiled. 

“Goodnight, Iris West.”

“Goodnight, Barry Allen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Okay, so I'm continuing "Sandcastles" but you don't have to have read "Sandcastles" before reading this fic, though I suggest you do (because it's cute, lol). I hope you all enjoy, thank you for reading this far <3


End file.
